The paperless office, or even the paperless business, is a long way
away for most companies. But when you need to do printing outside of
the typical in-office printing, such as creating materials for
conferences or products, there are plenty of ways to use smarter design
to reduce materials and enegy as well as ensure that what you've
printed can be recycled.

Debra Rizzi from Rizco Design spoke with GreenBiz Radio about good and bad printing options, and Rizco's Beleaf report card, which scores the environmental impact of client projects, rating their design and printing choices.

Jonathan Bardelline: You developed a report card rating the
greenness of products, taking into account both your office practices
at Rizco and the design and print choices that go into the projects.
What decisions in there matter the most?

Debra Rizzi: There is definitely several of them. Looking at
the way that our office operates and knowing that in the creative
industry that decisions that designers make really affect water, energy
and timber from trees that are made into paper.

I would say first of all switching over to green power is definitely a
route of the future that you see not only internally at Rizco Design,
but with other manufacturers and other corporate suppliers. So
currently at Rizco Design we switched over to a 50 percent wind, 50
percent hydro platform, and have seen really great results in being
able to play a part with the Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership and more recently as the first design firm to join Climate Leaders. We show our commitment to purchasing and investing in green power.

The other thing I would definitely say is recycling, and switching and specifying paper stocks that are either Forest Stewardship Council
certified, which is FSC, or have a high level of recycled content.
Through our research there was a statistic that was put out by the Environmental Paper Network
that listed that 16 million tons of high-grade fiber from offices and
printers go into landfills annually that could have been recovered. So
we as designers knowing that if we're specifying papers that have a
high recycled content or are made through suppliers that are being
monitored like they are through the chain of custody with FSC, and then
furthermore making sure that they're being recycled. In the big scheme
of things that is definitely gonna make a long-term impact.

JB: The report card covers a lot of different options in terms
of design and printing choices with different weights given to
different issues. How did you determine which issues to give more or
less weight to when determining how much of an impact those choices
have on the greenness of a project?

DR: We did a lot of research to come up with key components
that, first of all, when you're looking at reviewing the way that we
approach a design, what are the key items that you think about? And
some of those include your colorization, your size, your resources. How
do you show your comps or even your initial design directions? What are
the printing processes that you're selecting? Is your end product
recyclable and are you also advising your clients about the recycling
process?

Those were the seven key criteria that we came up with just in the
design phase that our designers think about. And also too within that
we did a lot of research to see how would making a positive change in
one of those areas create a long-term success rate in helping the
environment. Secondly, too, with green printing if you look at paper
stock for example, we have different layers in there of giving
percentages. Something that has a high content, high recycled content
gets more of a point value than something that does not.

FSC certified stock is second in line. Treeless paper is also. Looking
at those items and seeing what uses the most resources and not just
from a fiber content relationship, but also energy and water. You know,
you're really trying to eliminate the pressure that we're putting on
resources. So within there even looking at green printing, we're
looking at the colors, the paper stock, printing processes, FSC
certified printers, codings and bindery. And we have applied different
percentages based upon worst to best.

And it really creates a grading system so that not only are you grading
a project, but in one fell swoop you can actually showcase to your
client how many decisions go into a job and what those decisions have
and what kind of impact they have on the environment.

JB: Could you give me a few examples from both of the extremes
- what are some of the best decisions to make versus what are some of
the things that just should be avoided at all costs?

DR: One of the best case studies I can talk about is gang running. We recently finished a project for the Art Director's Club of New Jersey.
We donated our time for their annual awards show. And within that there
were four to five pieces that needed to be developed. First being a
cover of the awards booklet, a call for entries postcard, an
invitation, two other pieces of solicitation. And by planning in
advance we were able to print all of those components up on one press
form versus doing five individual press forms.

So you see that by gang running and thinking in advance you can size
each of your projects accordingly and make sure that you're minimizing
the amount of resources that you need. Also too within that thought
process we minimized inks and the paper stock that was selected was
carbon neutral, 100 percent recycled, FSC certified and Green-e certified as well. So that is a really good case study of things to definitely take into consideration.

The things to definitely avoid are laminates. There is one product that
is currently on the market by Dikeman Laminating. It's called Nature's Choice,
which sounds like a cereal. But it is biodegradable, which is good. But
it's only limited to offset printing. Mostly nine times out of 10
anything with a laminate is going to go into a landfill. It's very
difficult to pull it off of or separate it from the fibers. Therefore,
you're ending the lifecycle of that piece.

JB: Could you walk me through how you interact with clients regarding the report card?

DR: The first step is that when our clients receive an estimate
from us it clearly states what the Beleaf program is, and states our
commitment to educating our end clients about how our office operates,
how the piece is going to be designed and then how it's going to be
printed. If it's a new client that hasn't experienced this yet, they
are advised that they're going to receive this electronic report card
at the end of their project. It is - it's not a voluntary thing. We
wind up just sending it to them at the end of each project along with
recycling guidelines, which stipulate what that product has to go
through in order to continue the lifecycle of that piece.

They receive it via email and it clearly states in three different
tiers all the decisions that went into their project and it gives a
final score at the end. From our experience there's three different
reactions. The first one is no reaction at all. It's just become a way
of thinking, the way that we do business.

The second one is is that it's a positive response and the end client
wants to learn more about what we're doing and what they can do
internally. And the third one is almost a challenge of, “I want to make
sure that my score is better next time.” So in retrospect we've only
seen a positive response from it. And clients really feel that they're
being educated through the process.

JB: With some of the greener design and printing choices that
you've found, has there been any conflict where making the better
choice hinders creativity or what clients want to do?

DR: We haven't found a situation where it actually hinders
creativity. Since honestly we've seen that the paper industry has
really stepped up to the plate in providing a wide variety of choices.
Recycled paper is no longer thought of as just browned text weight
stock. You're seeing rich reds and browns and blacks. So with the use
of paper you can really stretch the limits of what you want to do and
then just making smart printing choices to make sure that your end
product is recyclable.

As I mentioned, staying away from laminates. Another one is foil
stamping has been proven to now be removable, but not proven to be
completely biodegradable. But more so you run into a situation where a
brand has been established already by a previous agency and the
specified paper stock and process is not environmentally friendly
whatsoever. So the role that you have to take is educating the client
and giving them the necessary tools so that when they reevaluate that
brand, hopefully in the next year, they will make smarter choices that
will have less of an impact on the environment.

JB: Obviously not all design firms offer this report card. So
what advice do you have for companies that are interested in making
better choices with their designs and printing, but they aren't getting
this report card? What should be the things they're asking their design
firms or their printers?

DR: It's different for everybody. We really - we're here as an
educational resource. So we welcome everybody to go to our website,
which is RizcoDesign.com/beleaf. Where you can actually review the
platform and view the report card. There's a sample there that we
welcome to individuals to use as a basis for talking point internally.

Depending upon where you are in the decision-making chain of command
within your company or what you can afford, there are various things
that you can do. Looking at your office, once again, recycling is very
important. Number two I would say is go digital. Try to reduce your
printouts as much as possible.

Number three is donate. Give some of your old computers to high schools
or art departments. Number four is really look at your supply chain.
Not just within your printers and your paper suppliers, but look at
your everyday usable, tangible items such as your cleaning products.
Pick somebody like Method or Seventh Generation. Look at your copy
paper. Is it 100 percent recycled? We recommend Cascades Enviro 100
copy paper.

But also too, as I mentioned, some of the other things that we consider
to be valuable when you're going through the thought process of
designing a project or printing a project, the individual designer or
production manager has great decision-making power in their hands. And
they are responsible for the lifecycle of the end product that they
produce.

JB: You mentioned going digital in some of the office
processes. How else in the design and printing phases does digital come
into play? In what parts of it can you go digital instead of getting
extra printouts?

DR: Digital can mean two different things to two different
types of designers. There is the benefit of going digital meaning that
you're not printing anything. You're developing websites or HTML emails
or sending PDFs versus actually printing on a physical piece. There is
still carbon that - CO2 levels that are emitted when you're dealing
with electronic communications. But of course you are overall saving
the strain on forests and fiber that needs to be made into paper. So we
definitely recommend reduce print outs as much as you can. Share files
electronically on your initial round. Another big thing that we always
say is produce paperless paychecks.

But then there's also digital printing, which involves toner. And
digital printing definitely is helpful in eliminating waste because
you're able to first of all order exactly what you need. It's faster so
you have less make ready time and less waste. You're able to order
exactly what you need so you're not having overruns or spoilage.

So those are some of the key things when you talk about going digital.
You know, you have the benefit of being able to send some things
electronically. But then also when you do have to print and it's a
small amount, digital printing is definitely beneficial.

JB: Okay. Well, thank you for your time.

DR: No problem. Thank you for having us.